muriel bowser

An audience of mostly women filled the banquet hall of the Woman’s National Democratic Club in Northwest D.C. Thursday evening to honor four women in the first Women Who Make a Difference awards, organized by the Top Ladies of Distinction D.C. chapter.

The honorees represented a spectrum of public service in the nation’s capital, from the rising political career of D.C. mayoral front-runner Muriel Bowser to the first female African American U.S. senator, former Ambassador to New Zealand Carol Moseley Braun.

Wasserman Schultz, right, endorsed Bowser in her bid to become the next mayor of Washington. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Democratic mayoral nominee Muriel Bowser was scheduled to make a Capitol Hill cameo on Friday, but the Ward 4 Councilmember never made it.

Despite the no-show, her name and her race against independent challenger David Catania , an at-large member of the D.C. Council and a former registered Republican, were on the lips of national members of the Democratic Party this week. “Now one step closer to election as Mayor of our nation’s capital, Muriel is the most recent example of how our democracy is strengthened by women in positions of leadership and holding elected office," Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida said in a Wednesday statement congratulating Bowser on her primary victory.